Joe H. Ritch Sworn In as TVA Board Member

January 11, 2013

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. ― Joe H. Ritch, of Huntsville, Ala., on Friday became a member of the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors, taking the oath of office in a ceremony in Huntsville. His term will expire on May 18, 2016.

Ritch, confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on Jan. 1, was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Charles Lynwood Smith Jr. of the Northern District of Alabama during a ceremony at the U.S. Courthouse in Huntsville.

“I am honored to have been nominated to this very important post by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate,” Ritch said. “I look forward to serving on the TVA board and representing the people of Alabama. TVA is vitally important to the area it serves in Alabama and the entire Tennessee Valley.”

Director Ritch lives in Huntsville, Ala., and is an attorney at the Sirote & Permutt law firm, where he has worked since 1982. He has served as chairman of the Tennessee Valley Base Realignment and Closures Committee since 1994, and as co-chairman of the Tennessee Valley Growth Coordination Group since 2008. He also served as a member of the University of Alabama board of trustees from 2005 to 2011. Ritch serves on the board of directors at several other companies and nonprofits, including Appleton Learning, Axiometrics, and the Von Braun Center for Innovative Science.

Ritch received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a law degree from Samford University, and a postgraduate law degree in taxation from New York University.

Ritch is one of four newly confirmed appointments to the TVA board of directors. The others are Michael McWherter, of Jackson, Tenn., who was sworn in Thursday; and V. Lynn Evans, of Memphis, Tenn., and Peter Mahurin, of Bowling Green, Ky., who will be sworn in later this month. They will join TVA Board Chairman Bill Sansom, of Knoxville, Tenn., and current members Barbara Haskew, of Chattanooga, Tenn.; Neil McBride, of Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Richard Howorth, of Oxford, Miss.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S. government, provides electricity for business customers and distribution utilities that serve 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states at prices below the national average. TVA, which receives no taxpayer money and makes no profits, also provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists utilities and state and local governments with economic development.

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Joe Ritch was sworn in as a board member of the Tennessee Valley Authority on Jan. 11, in Hunstsville, Ala. U.S. District Judge Charles Lynwood Smith, Jr. of the Northern District of Alabama performed the ceremony accompanied by Ritch's wife, Lana.